A rapid succession of well-publicised new product variants has helped Reckitt Benckiser capture shoppers' imaginations and dissuade them - for the time being - from trading down to supermarket value-label bleaches, air fresheners and dishwasher tablets.

The group, which makes Vanish stain remover, Calgon water softener, Finish dishwasher tablets and Cillit Bang cleaning products, lifted net revenue 20% to £1.56bn for the three months to June 30. The gain was boosted by strong euro earnings, but was still 11% after stripping out currency movements. Underlying profit was flat at £240m.

Chief executive Bart Becht said: "Reckitt Benckiser had a very good first half with 11% net revenue growth ... For the full year we are on track to achieve at least our previously communicated net revenue growth target of 11% to 12% at constant exchange." This target was raised three months ago. The company also expects 11% constant-currency profit growth this year.

Becht insisted its performance was stronger than low-price supermarket private label trade. Private-label share of the markets in which Reckitt operates nudged up from 12.8% to 12.9% in Europe, and from 6.1% to 6.3% in the US, he said.

"People always talk about down-trading, which is all very nice, but it tends to be a very emotive subject with little fact. That [market share figure] is the only fact I can give you - everything else is projection."

Part of Reckitt's strong defence against private-label products has come from heavy investment in new variants around its 17 "power brands". These include Harpic toilet cleaner, Dettol antiseptic and Airwick air freshener. Mucinex, a popular cough mixture in the US, is to replace Lemsip in its priority brands.

Becht said Reckitt was particularly excited about a number of recent or forthcoming product launches, including Vanish Oxi Action Intelligence, "a new upgraded product which seeks out both visible and invisible stains", and Calgon Energis, just launched in Germany, "which not only prevents limescale build-up in the machine, it also prevents limescale build-up on clothes".

The group has an unrivalled track record on innovation and typically generates 40% of revenue from product variants developed in the previous three years.

Marketing spend plays a critical role in the success of innovations and Reckitt increased its media budget for the first six months by about 16% - despite advertising prices getting cheaper - taking the total to about £415m, or 13.5% of revenue. Two years ago media investment was 11.9% of revenue.

Like all consumer goods companies, Reckitt faces some input cost inflation, which it has been offsetting with single-digit percentage price increases.

Elsewhere, rival consumer goods group Unilever said it had agreed to sell its North American laundry products business, which includes Snuggle, Wisk and Surf, to private equity house Vestar Capital for $1.45bn (£728m). Vestar owns Huish Detergents and hopes merging the two businesses will help it challenge Procter & Gamble's dominance of the US market.